Ridley Scott moving forward on a sequel to Gladiator

Over eighteen years after the release of GLADIATOR, it seems that Ridley Scott is finally moving forward on a sequel. Given that the historical epic ended with the deaths of both Maximus (Russell Crowe) and Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), you might just be wondering why Scott is even entertaining the idea of a follow-up.

Deadline broke the news that Ridley Scott is moving forward on a GLADIATOR sequel with Peter Craig (THE TOWN) set to write the script. Ridley Scott is hoping to direct the film himself, but the project is still in the very early stages and Scott has quite a number of projects on his plate already. Deadline claims that the sequel will continue the story of Lucius, the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielson) and the nephew of Commodus, who, in the 2000 film, was greatly influenced by Maximus (Crowe).

This isn't the first time that Ridley Scott has touched upon a sequel to GLADIATOR, as you might just remember the bizarre script by Nick Cave (LAWLESS) which found Maximus being brought back to life by Roman Gods several decades after his death. While chatting on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast several years ago, Nick Cave said the the film, which he wanted to call CHRIST KILLER, would have found Maximus in purgatory as he's "sent down by the gods, who are dying in heaven because there’s this one god, there’s this Christ character, down on Earth who is gaining popularity and so the many gods are dying so they send Gladiator back to kill Christ and his followers." However, the scrip would have found Maximus tricked by the gods as the "Christ character" that they've sent him to kill was his own son (you know, the one who died in the first movie). However, we haven't even gotten to the craziest part as the end of the film would have found Maximus living forever, fighting battles throughout history, such as World War II and Vietnam, before ending up as a General in the modern-day Pentagon. When Russell Crowe read the script, he reportedly said, "don't like it, mate."